Two of this week's biggest stories have revolved around the complex, intertwining themes of video games and violence.
On Monday, tragic news came out of Washington, D.C., regarding Aaron Alexis' shooting rampage that claimed the lives of 12 victims. Analysis of his horrific acts has largely focused on his unstable mental state. But amid the details about possible motivations and influences in his life have come reports that Alexis spent significant amounts of time playing M-rated shooters such as Call of Duty. "He could be in the game all day and all night," said friend Nutpisit Suthamtewakul. "I think games might be what pushed him that way." Suthamtewakul told the United Kingdom's Mirror that Alexis could be so engrossed in a game that Suthamtewakul would take food to him so that he wouldn't have to take breaks from the onscreen action.
While no one involved with the investigation is suggesting as strongly as Suthamtewakul has that violent video games spurred Alexis' actions, it's yet another mass murder in which those kinds of games were a were a known element in a shooter's media diet.